Quality of Virginia Tech's recruiting class helps offset some of the misses

Video: National Signing Day at Bethel High School

Bethel High School seniors Ricky Walker and Grant Gibson sign letters of intent to play collegiate football on Wednesday.

Bethel High School seniors Ricky Walker and Grant Gibson sign letters of intent to play collegiate football on Wednesday.

Norm Wood, nwood@dailypress.com

Though defending national champion Florida State did what it could Wednesday to take some luster off Virginia Tech's signing day experience, Hokies coach Frank Beamer didn't let the recruits who slipped from his grasp ruin his mood.

By adding depth and skill to the quarterback, running back, offensive line and wide receiver spots, along with a couple of key signing day additions, Beamer was pleased with the outcome of his 28-member class — even if there were a couple of late letdowns.

Tech was edged out by FSU for highly-recruited defensive tackle Derrick Nnadi from Ocean Lakes High in Virginia Beach, while receiver Javon Harrison from Kathleen High in Lakeland, Fla., flipped his long-time commitment to Tech to sign with FSU. Harrison, who attends the same high school as Tech defensive backs coach Torrian Gray did, was arguably Tech's most highly-rated commitment entering Wednesday.

"As always, you miss a couple there at the end, but I spend my time talking about the ones we got," said Beamer, whose class included Phoebus High alum Marshawn Williams at running back as a January enrollee and highly recruited Bethel High alum Ricky Walker at defensive tackle. "I'm really excited about that."

Tech's class, which was ranked between 25th and 36th in the nation by four recruiting services, featured the addition of four receivers, four offensive linemen, four running backs and three quarterbacks.

Gaining signatures from receiver Isaiah Ford from Jacksonville, Fla., and 6-foot-3, 215-pound linebacker Raymon Minor from Benedictine High in Richmond helped soothe some of the hurt from missing out on Harrison and Nnadi. Running back Anthony Scott from Green Run High in Virginia Beach opted to sign with East Carolina after turning down a greyshirt opportunity at Tech. Receiver Isaiah McKenzie from Plantation, Fla., looked at Tech, but signed with Georgia

In addition to Minor, some of the top defensive players in the class include Walker, linebacker Melvin Keihn from the Gilman School in Baltimore, Md., defensive back C.J. Reavis from Thomas Dale High in Chester, and defensive back Holland Fisher from Fork Union Military Academy.

"He's just not a guy that's a space-eater," said defensive coordinator Bud Foster of Walker. "He's a guy that can put pressure on the quarterback. He can pursue down the line of scrimmage extremely well. That's kind of what we want. We want an aggressive defense that can play from sideline-to-sideline and end zone-to-end zone. He's one of those guys."

Holding onto the offensive linemen — Tyrell Smith from North Brunswick, N.J., Eric Gallo from Richboro, Pa., Billy Ray Mitchell from Westwood, N.J., and Colt Pettit from Deshler, Ohio — was particularly important for Tech's class. They were all recruited by former Hokies offensive line coach Jeff Grimes, who left Tech in January for the same position at LSU. Stacy Searels took over the job at Tech.

While Williams, Tabyus Taylor, D.J. Reid and Shai McKenzie, a highly-recruited running back from Washington, Pa., who is still recovering from a torn anterior cruciate ligament, will get chances to bolster Tech's floundering ground game, January enrollee Andrew Ford from Cedar Cliff High in Camp Hill, Pa., could be the future of Tech's quarterback position.

Ford, who was joined by Poland, Ohio, native Chris Durkin and versatile athlete Travon McMillian from C.D. Hylton High in Woodbridge as quarterback signees in Tech's class, will get his first shot to show his ability in spring practices.

"He was trained extremely well out of high school," Tech offensive coordinator Scot Loeffler said. "(Cedar Cliff) coach (Jim) Cantafio — I believe this has to be his sixth or seventh college quarterback, so we know that he's trained. We know that he understands principles and concepts."